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theendlesssummerstory · 6 years

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Endless Summer, Chapter 1/44 - One magical week in paradise

I lay there, asleep, haunted by a dream.

“Stay down! It’s coming this way!” warned a man in a green jacket.

“Taylor! Give me your hand!” said a man in a white T-shirt.

“You don’t understand yet... do you?” taunted a man in a grey suit. “Of course not. But you will... in time.”

The plane I was on shuddered, waking me up. My best friend Diego gave me a goofy smirk.

“Good morning, sleepyhead.” he mocked me.

“I’m not still dreaming, am I?” I asked him.

“Doesn’t feel right, does it? But we’re finally on our way!” he replied.

Ten students from Hartfeld University had won a contest - a one week holiday in the tropical island of La Huerta. I didn’t know any of the others except for Diego, but I could overhear some of them.

“One magical week in paradise, here we come!” said a ginger-haired female student, smiling.

“All expenses paid, what whaaaat!” cheered a male student in a orange jacket.

“Good thing too!” said a male student in a cranberry T-shirt. “I’m so deep in student debt, I can’t even afford instant ramen.”

I barely took notice though. I was thinking about my dream, because I couldn’t quite fathom what it meant. Diego noticed my weird expression.

“Hey... Taylor? You ok? Bad dream?” he asked me.

“Just a weird one.” I replied. “I dreamt about... him!”

The man in the white T-shirt, the one who told me to give them my hand in my dream, was walking down the aisle of the plane. Noticing this, Diego smiled mischievously at me.

“You dreamt about Sean Gayle? Then what are you waiting for?” Diego asked me. “Talk to him!”

As Sean passed us, Diego pushed me into the aisle, and I bumped into Sean.

“Oh!” he gasped, then smiled. “Hello!”

“My friend Taylor wants to say something.” Diego told him.

“I...” I tried to speak, but I was still a bit flustered. "I... just dreamt about you!”

In hindsight, I’m extremely embarrassed, but at the time, that was all I could manage. Sean, however, didn’t seem to notice how flustered I was.

“Is that so?” he replied. “A good one, I hope.”

“It was actually pretty terrifying.” I admitted, truthfully. I instantly realised how this must sound. “Not because of you though!”

It was then that Sean noticed how embarrassed I was, and smiled gently at me.

“Don’t worry about it.” comforted Sean. “I take people dreaming about me as a compliment.”

Sean excused himself as he passed me. Diego was crying from laughter, barely managing to hold onto his phone.

“Oh man, I’ve got that whole thing on camera!” Diego laughed. “You’ve gotta see your face.”

He handed me his phone so I could watch the video, when I noticed something off about the time.

“Is it really quarter past five?” I asked him. “We should’ve landed an hour ago.”

Diego took the phone back and frowned.

“How strange...” he agreed. “It didn’t seem like you were snoring that long.”

“Hilarious.” I replied. “I’ll go ask the pilot if something’s up.”

“Ok. His name’s Jake.” Diego informed me.

I started to make my way towards the cockpit, when I heard some of the other university students talking. I stopped to listen.

“Can you please cease your babbling?!” snapped a male student with white hair. He was clearly annoyed. “The tour guide is trying to speak!”

“Thank you, Aleister!” replied the tour guide, whose name I knew was Lila - it was on a badge on her yellow T-shirt.

“As your tour guide for the week, I just wanted to say that we should... you know, be friends!” she proposed, cheerily, which made some of the students snort derisively. “It is an island after all, so... you’re stuck with each other! Hee hee!”

Her giggle made me shudder. It bordered on psychopathic.

A female student with maroon streaks in her hair only had one question for Lila - “Is it too late to jump out of the plane?”

Figuring that there would be no more use in listening to the conversation, I entered the cockpit to talk to the pilot, who had his combat boots up on the dashboard.

“Excuse me... Jake, is it? Shouldn’t we have already landed-”

I stopped when I heard him, snoring.

“Hey - are you asleep?!” I asked him, shocked.

He opened his eyes and turned to face me. I recognised him from my dream - he was the man in the green jacket who warned me that someone, or maybe something, was coming this way.

“Boy scout, don’t you know it’s rude to wake someone up while they’re napping?” he asked me.

“Boy scout?” I asked him, stunned. I had a name, Taylor... why did he give me a nickname? And boy scout of all nicknames?

“I give nicknames to people who annoy me.” he explained, seeing my stunned expression.

“What if I gave you a nickname?” I asked him. He looked at me, frustrated, but was clearly trying to hide it.

“You can’t be givin’ people nicknames. That’s my thing. And it takes work to be as good as me.” he said, then looked away from me. “... but give it your best shot.”

"Well... given how you’re a pilot, and you seem to have a slightly rebellious and impulsive attitude, I’m gonna call you Maverick.” I decided.

“...alright. Maverick it is.” Jake relented. “And anyway, about the time, relax. We ain’t landing until-” he stopped abruptly when he looked down at the time and saw how late we were.

“The hell?!” he exclaimed. “That time ain’t right...”

Jake whacked the instrument panel a few times, as if that would make the time go back to normal, but it didn’t.

“Do you know what you’re doing?” I asked him.

“Don’t worry boy scout.” he replied calmly. “If you knew half the things I’ve been through-”

It was then that turbulence struck the plane... and I was thrown into the wall of the cockpit! The sky darkened - we had flown into a storm.

“Aw, great!” said Jake, sarcastically. “This storm, appearing out of nowhere, wrecking my beautiful plane... great, just great.”

He turned to face me.

“Get your ass in a seat.” he ordered. “And tell everyone to buckle up.”

I didn’t need to be told twice! I went back to my seat, and tried to get everyone to listen to me, but they were shouting, totally panicked.

“Oh, I am really regretting that airport Chipotle!” shouted the male student with the cranberry T-shirt.

“Don’t puke bro!” the male student in the orange jacket told him. “If you puke, I’m gonna puke!”

“Where the hell did this storm come from?!” exclaimed a female student with a pink shirt and lots of make-up. “The sky was clear minutes ago!”

Jake activated the plane’s intercom.

“Don’t worry, people! This is normal! This happens sometimes!” he said, but I could hear in his voice that this was the worst storm he’d ever faced.

The female student with maroon streaks looked out of the window, where balls of orange lightning were targeting the plane.

“Yeah, sure.” she managed, her eyes wide. She spoke in a sarcastic manner equal to Jake’s. “That is completely normal.”

“It looks like ball lightning...” observed a girl with black, curly hair. She was shaking. “But I’ve never seen anything like this!”

“This is wrong, all wrong...” Aleister complained. “I should not die here, surrounded by these morons!”

Sean, hearing the panicked group, tried to comfort them, as he had comforted me.

“Just breath, everyone! We’ll get through this!”

“Oh no, oh no...” said the ginger-haired girl. She was shaking, unable to stay calm.

Jake activated the intercom again, after a particularly rough spot of turbulence.

“The engine’s just lost power!” he announced. “I’m bringing her down manually! Hang on, everyone!”

All the students were panicked... except one. A female student in a blue hoodie, with her hair in a ponytail and a scar across her right eye, sat a few seats in front of me, silent and unfazed.

Too late, I realised I’d forgotten to fasten my seat belt. The next spot of turbulence threw me off my seat, and I found myself near an empty seat next to the ginger-haired female student. I got in the seat and buckled up, bracing myself for landing. Panicked, she squeezed my hand. I hesitated... then squeezed back. She let out a deep sigh.

“Thank you.” she sighed, then turned to me and smiled. “I’m Quinn.”

“And I’m Taylor.”

The turbulence then disappeared as suddenly and unexpectedly as it had appeared. The intercom came to life once more.

“We’re almost out!” Jake announced.

As he said it, we moved out of the storm, and into clear weather.

“Wooooooohoooo!” cheered the male student in the cranberry T-shirt. “We’re alive!”

A few minutes later, Jake landed the plane on an airstrip at the edge of the island, having to execute an emergency landing.

We climbed out, and I approached Jake.

“Rough landing, Maverick.” I teased him. “Hope you don’t live on tips.”

“Please. I’m a damn hero for getting any of you onto the ground alive.”

Jake wondered off, looking for a guy called Carlos, who could pay Jake and re-fuel his plane. The other students chatted amongst themselves, and I overheard Quinn talk to the female student with black, curly hair.

“Isn’t this exciting Grace!” she squealed. “This island’s supposed to be one of the most beautiful places on Earth, with all its beaches and waterfalls!”

“And it’s also home to a plethora of rare flora and fauna!” Grace added.

The male student in the orange jacket shook his head, clearly annoyed.

“Only ten spots on the trip, and they had to go ahead and give one to this dork.”

Sean heard him and scowled.

“Knock it off, Craig.” Sean intervened. “No need to be mad just because no other guys from the American football team made it.”

Craig wouldn’t meet Sean’s gaze, but didn’t argue either. It was clear that he respected Sean.

Diego came to join me... and that’s when I realised that we were being watched. By that female student, the one in the blue hoodie. She was watching us... watching me.

“Got eyes for the mysterious hottie, Taylor?” Diego teased me.

“I can’t put my finger on it Diego, but there’s something off about her.” I said.

“And what would that be?”

I thought about everything I’d seen and heard... and that’s when I realised it.

“There are too many of us, Diego.” I concluded. “Ten university students won the contest, and including the tour guide and pilot, that should make twelve of us. But count us off, Diego. She makes thirteen.”

Diego counted to make sure... and then nodded.

“You’re right. And I don’t think I’ve ever seen her at Hartfeld. So... who is she?”

I looked back at her... and she met my gaze. She quickly looked away, blushing subtly.

“If everyone can please come with me, we’ll make our way to The Celestial!” Lila proposed. The Celestial was the hotel we would be staying at.

We walked on, and I found myself walking next to the female student in the pink shirt with the make-up.

“Hello, I’m-” I started, but she cut me off.

“Listen to me.” she snapped. “I saw you talking to Sean earlier. And I’m telling you, back off.”

She wrapped an arm around Sean.

“Michelle, don’t-” he started, but was also cut off.

“Sean doesn’t need pathetic, desperate famehounds and losers stealing his valuable time.” Michelle told me. “So leave him alone.”

I was angry. Michelle had no right to tell me who I could and couldn’t hang out with. And I knew she was just jealous, probably because she couldn’t have Sean for herself. So I decided to insult her back.

“Exactly. Sean doesn’t need losers. So what are you doing around him?” I asked her.

“Excuse me?!” Michelle glared at me. It was clear she wasn’t used to people challenging her, and I could tell that she now disliked me, but that wasn’t going to put me off.

“You heard me.” I told her. “And now, you’re probably trying to think of a comeback. One that’ll probably be bad. Don’t worry... I’ll wait.”

Michelle couldn’t reply. She was shaking with anger.

“Michelle, you need to chill.” Sean told her. “And I don’t mean Netflix and chill, I mean actually chill. Please.”

After what felt like years, probably due to the awkward silence, we reached The Celestial. Lila fell into a pre-rehearsed speech.

“The Celestial boasts 25 stories containing 1,200 suites of the finest accommodation you can imagine! Travel and Leisure magazine nicknamed The Celestial the “Jewel of the Caribbean” and included it on their Top 5 Caribbean Hotels list!”

We walked through the automatic doors, and found ourselves in the hotel lobby... greeted by a deafening silence. The front desk had no receptionist, and suitcases and luggage carts lay unattended.

“I... I don’t understand.” managed a confused Lila.

“If this place is so great, Lila... where the hell is everyone?!” asked the female student with maroon streaks.

#endless summer #mc x estela #estela x mc #lila sethi #jake mckenzie #diego ortiz soto #grace hall #sean gayle #estela montoya #quinn kelly #aleister rourke #zahra namazi #raj bhandarkar #craig hsiao #michelle nguyen #the endless summer story #playchoices #choices stories you play

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theendlesssummerstory · 6 years

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Endless Summer, Chapter 2/44 - We’ve all got secrets (Part 1)

“Hello?” Michelle yelled, banging on the reception bell. What she thought that would accomplish, with the hotel deserted, I’m not sure.

Sean stood there open-mouthed, looking around the empty lobby.

“This’ll make for one weird yelp review.” he managed.

“The hotels staff knew we were coming this week, right?” asked Grace, sadly. “This is not good.”

“I’m with Grace on this one.” I told the group. “Something like this doesn’t just happen. We should split up and investigate.”

“Thanks for backing me up, Taylor.” said Grace, smiling. I smiled back, letting her know she had my support.

“You know what I don’t understand?” said Craig. “I don’t have any service on my phone. Do you, Zahra? Raj?”

He had turned to face the female student with maroon streaks and the male student with the cranberry T-shirt. Both checked their phones, then shook their heads.

“Maybe they don’t have towers here.” Craig suggested.

“Of course there are cell phone towers here, you complete, utter simpleton.” Aleister insulted him.

“And how would you know that?” Zahra challenged him.

“Well, of course I... uh, I...” Aleister started, flustered, but quickly composed himself. “Maybe because I’m not a complete imbecile?!”

“What matters more is finding answers.” I told the group. “Lila, do you know-”

I stopped when I realised Lila wasn’t with us.

“Have any of you seen Lila?” I asked the group.

They shook their heads.

We left The Celestial through the front door and found Lila, pacing nervously and talking to herself.

“Where could they be? They’re all gone, all gone... what would Everett say if he knew Lila had-” she stopped when she heard us approach. She shook off her melancholy.

“Hey everyone! I’m sure this is nothing to worry about!” Lila told us with her cheery facade. “Maybe the hotel guests are all... having a picnic on the beach!”

“Yeah.” Jake scoffed, falling into his sarcastic manner once more. “Or maybe the care bears came and took everyone to Happy-Happy Land!”

“Jake.” Sean glared at him. “That’s not helping.”

“What’s not helping is just standing here, not getting any answers, doing nothing.” Jake retorted.

“Well, in order to get some answers, we need leadership. And it doesn’t look like you’re up to the task.” Sean challenged him.

Jake met the challenge, balling his fists. “YOU THROW A BALL AROUND AND YOU THINK THAT QUALIFIES YOU TO TALK TO ME ABOUT LEADERSHIP?!” he shouted.

They stepped towards each other, getting in each others faces, Sean having a slight height advantage. Before the situation could get uglier, I got between them and forcefully pushed them apart.

“Taylor-” Sean started.

“Captain America here’s trying to-” Jake protested.

“I don’t want to hear it. Both of you, stop puffing your chests.” I told them off. “The only thing getting us nowhere is this macho standoff. Put your petty squabble aside, and put your heads together, to help us make whatever sense we can of this.”

Sean and Jake looked at each other... then reluctantly shook hands.

“Better?” I asked them.

“Yeah, better.” Sean replied.

“Whatever.” Jake muttered, but got serious when he saw the look I was giving him.

“We’re good.” he quickly said.

“Great.” Diego spoke up. “Now we have the power of friendship. What do we do now, Taylor?”

Everyone turned to me for advice, even Lila, which I thought was odd, given she was the tour guide, and should probably be in charge here.

“Me? Well... as I said in the lobby, we should split into groups of 3-4 and investigate the different parts of the hotel.” I eventually said.

“Good idea, Taylor!” said Grace. “I’ll search the pool.”

“The pool actually sounds great.” Jake decided. “I’ll go with brain trust.”

“Craig, if things were normal right now, where would we be?” Raj asked him.

“Uh... the restaurant, stuffing our faces?” answered Craig.

“Exactly!” Raj replied. “We’ll search the restaurant.”

“Where do you want to look, Zahra?” Lila asked her.

Zahra shrugged. “Don’t care.”

“Well then...” said Lila, stunned, as Zahra’s gloominess contrasted her cheeriness. “How about we check out the ballroom?”

“Still don’t care.”

“I’ll go with you two.” I decided. As the tour guide, Lila (hopefully!) knew what she was doing, and I certainly wasn’t going to eat, or swim, at a time like this.

As we split off into our various groups, I noticed something - the female student in the blue hoodie had disappeared too. Who was she? Did she know something about the hotel guests? If so, what? And how?

Anyway, Lila, Zahra, Quinn (who had decided to join us) and I went to the ballroom. It was set up for a wedding, but there was one important thing that was missing.

“There’s no-one here.” I pointed out.

“Wow.” said Zahra, acerbically. “We can all relax, people, ‘cause Taylor’s here to point out the obvious.”

“You like being the jerk?” I asked her as nicely as I could.

“...you’re two for two.”

“What happened here?” Lila asked herself. “Everything’s set up for a wedding. What happened here, Lila?”

“Maybe the bride realised that marriage is a joke and hightailed it out of here?” Zahra suggested.

“Marriage? A joke?” Lila stepped back from Zahra. This time, she couldn’t hide how stunned she was.

“Personally, I have nothing against marriage itself, but I don’t see the point in big, fancy ceremonies. As long as you’re with your soulmate, who cares?” I commented, earning a bright smile from Quinn.

“You really believe that?” she asked me.

“Shouldn’t everyone?” I replied, earning a derisive snort from Zahra.

“I originally thought you were just a captive of the marital-industrial complex, but you’re even more of a sap than I thought. You believe in soulmates.” I might’ve taken offence from Zahra’s comment, but I knew she didn’t mean it personally. She was a jerk to everyone. It was her nature.

She walked up to a wine bottle and her eyes widened.

“Hey, Lila... why does this place have wine from 1921?!” she asked.

“Wait, what!?” said Lila, shocked, but I was sure she knew more than she was letting on.

“Well, this wine may be ancient, but that ain’t stopping me.” said Zahra, popping open the bottle and filling some wine glasses.

“Zahra! That wine doesn’t belong to us!” Lila and Quinn protested. But I took a glass and drank with Zahra - it was still a holiday, and all expenses were paid off. Besides, it wasn’t like anyone was here who would need the wine.

After a further investigation of the ballroom, in which we found nothing, we met the other two groups back in the lobby.

“In the restaurant, we saw something on the volcano!” said Craig. “It was, like, there, and then... not.”

“At the pool, Grace was nice to Aleister and he totally freaked out!” Diego added, laughing.

I noticed that Aleister wasn’t with the group. He was at the other end of the lobby, staring at a man’s picture. As I approached Aleister, I recognised the man from my dream - he was the man in the grey suit, and his taunt still haunted me. “You don’t understand yet... do you? Of course not. But you will... in time.”

“Aleister, who is that?” I asked.

Aleister jumped a little, surprised by my sudden appearance, but answered me calmly.

“That’s Everett Rourke. The owner of Rourke International, and the man who built this hotel.” he explained.

I thought I’d heard his name before, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.

Aleister turned to leave, when he bumped into Grace.

“Oh!” she gasped, startled.

“Grace, I, uh...” Aleister started, but then tightened his face. “Watch where you’re going.”

As he left, I noticed Grace looking despondent.

“Can I... talk to you, Taylor?” she asked, almost a whisper.

“Of course. If it’s about Aleister, though, don’t take it personally-” I started, but she shook her head, hard.

“It’s not that, Taylor. I found something, and you, you just... seem to be a person I can trust.” she admitted.

“If you have a secret, Grace, I hope you know it’s alright to keep it. I trust you.” I consoled her.

“You do?!” she said, shocked.

“Of course. I trust you’ll make the right decision, and when you’re ready, you’ll share.”

Grace hesitated... then pulled something out of her orange sweater. It was a long, sharp tooth. One that looked prehistoric, as if it were a dinosaur fossil.

“I found this at the pool.” she told me. “I don’t know what to make of it. Do you think we should tell the group? See what they think?”

I agreed, and we went back to the group. They stared at the tooth with fascination.

“Woah.” said Jake. “There’s no way that’s normal. No animal today has teeth like that. It must be some kind of fossil.”

“We need to focus on the real problem guys.” said Sean. “We haven’t found out what happened to the hotel guests. And we need to find them.”

We heard someone come in through the front door. I turned and saw the female student in the blue hoodie enter the hotel, looking slightly disappointed.

“Oh - you’re back!” I said, unsure what to make of her sudden reappearance.

She ignored me and grabbed a hotel key from behind the desk.

“Estela!” said Lila. “There you are! Where have you been?”

“Lookin’ around. Trying to make sense of things.” she replied.

“Did you find anything?” Michelle asked her.

Estela shook her head. “Nothing that matters to you.”

“Shouldn’t we be the ones to decide what matters to us?” I asked her, and she finally looked at me, as if she had just noticed I was there.

“We’ve all got secrets.” she told me, somewhat hesitantly, before taking off, going to her room.

“Well… now that Estela’s taken hers, I guess I should all give you your room keys!” Lila decided.

After getting my room key, I went up to my room, and unpacked, still trying to work out what could have happened to the hotel guests.

Half an hour later, I heard a knock on the door. It was Diego.

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theendlesssummerstory · 6 years

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Endless Summer, Chapter 2/44 - We’ve all got secrets (Part 2)

“Man... what a day!” he exclaimed, throwing himself onto my bed.

“Definitely.” I agreed.

“You know, Taylor...” Diego pondered. “I’ve always wanted an adventure, and maybe, just maybe, the universe is finally listening to me.”

He then shook his head, laughing slightly.

“But with my luck, this is the universe’s way of taunting me, before I go back to university and get bullied again.”

“You know what, Diego?” I said. “I think sometimes you need to find the adventure in the life you’re given.”

Diego laughed. “And you say I’m the ridiculous one.”

“Anyway, we’re throwing a party by the pool. I wanted to see if you’d tag along?” he asked me.

“A party sounds great!” I said. “Let’s go!”

When we got to the pool, Craig and Zahra approached me.

“Hey, Taylor! So great of you to join us!” cheered Craig.

“Yeah. Maybe you don’t completely suck.” Zahra admitted.

I ignored her and made my way to the bar, where Jake was serving drinks. He smiled as I approached.

“What can I get you, boy scout? And order something unconventional, please.” he practically begged me. “Everyone’s ordering the same old stuff and it’s boring.”

I tried to think of the most unconventional drink I could ask Jake to make, when I suddenly had an idea.

“An unconventional drink, Maverick?” I rhetorically asked him. Jake smiled as he heard me use my nickname for him. “Make a new drink inspired by me!”

“Inspired by you, huh...” mused Jake. After mixing some ingredients and drinks I’d never even heard of before, he slammed down a drink in front of me.

“It’s a little bit of everything.” he explained. “Salty and sweet, tangy and bitter, dry and fruity. It doesn’t know what it wants to be yet... but I think it has the potential to be anything it wants to.”

“Woah, that’s...” I stuttered, taken aback by how much thought Jake of all people had put into it. “...surprisingly thoughtful, actually.”

“You had to go and say surprisingly, huh?” Jake retorted, sharply, but I could tell he was joking. “Can’t I be typically thoughtful?”

“No.” I jokingly replied. “But thanks for the drink, Maverick.”

He nodded as I decided to find Diego, taking one of Raj’s kebabs on the way, and it was the best kebab I had ever eaten. Raj seemed to take pride as I ate it, as if cooking for people was all he cared about.

I found Diego lounging by the pool, alone. I was smiling, which he reciprocated.

“You look happy.” he observed.

“I’m looking forward to get to know everyone.” I replied.

“You’ve caught some eyes, you know.” Diego pointed at the nearby cliff. Estela sat there, her legs dangling off the edge, watching the party. She met my gaze and, again, looked away.

“You know, Diego... I’m gonna go talk to her.” I decided.

Diego gave me his signature smirk as I grabbed a blanket, figuring Estela must be cold up on the cliff, and made my way to her.

When I made it to the top of the cliff, Estela turned to face me.

“What is it?” she asked me, probably a little rougher than she meant, but it made me realise that she didn’t want company.

“I just thought you might want some company.” I answered, to which she involuntarily blushed.

“...oh.” She managed.

“Sorry to have bothered you.” I started to leave.

“No... stay.” she patted the ground next to her. Her soft brown eyes reflected the stars overhead.

“Thanks.” I told her. “I’m Taylor, by the way.”

As I sat down next to her, I offered her the blanket.

“I brought this, in case you were cold.”

She recoiled instinctively.

“Why?” she asked, genuinely confused. I frowned.

“I don’t know. To be nice?”

Estela reluctantly took the blanket, wrapping it around her.

“Thanks.” she said, before turning to face me.

“Where I come from, people don’t do things for you without expecting something in return.” she said, as if it explained being suspicious of someone offering you a blanket.

“Well, maybe some people want nothing more but to be liked or respected in return.” I told her.

“It’s pathetic, isn’t it? How lonely humans all are...” she mused, before breaking into a smile, the first one of hers I’d seen. “But at least you’re honest about it.”

That’s when she noticed I was shivering slightly. She scooted close to me, took one half of the blanket and wrapped it around me. We huddled underneath it.

“That was nice of you.” I complimented her, to which she smiled rather sweetly.

We lay there in silence, watching the stars. A few seconds later, she abruptly stood up.

“I have to go, Taylor.” she said. “The people in my life often end up getting hurt... really badly. And I don’t mean their feelings.”

“Estela-” I tried to dissuade her, but her mind was made up.

“You seem like a nice person, and... I don’t want that to happen to you.”

With that, she disappeared, making her way back to the hotel.

Confused, but figuring there’d be no point in staying at the cliffside all by myself, I started to make my way back to the pool, when I saw some eyes appear suddenly in the bushes. There was a predator!

“Guys!” I yelled, too panicked at the time to realise that this could anger the predator.

The predator, however, took off. I turned to see Sean and Jake running towards me.

“Taylor!” Sean gasped, slightly breathless after sprinting to my rescue.

“Is everything okay? What is it?” Jake asked me.

“I... have no idea.” I admitted.

But the one thing I did know, even then, is that we had to leave La Huerta, and as far as I was concerned, the sooner, the better.

As far as everyone else was concerned, though, I was simply paranoid. No-one except for Sean and Quinn believed me when I told them I saw a predator, but this revelation still lowered the mood, and quickly caused everyone to stop the party and return to their rooms.

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theendlesssummerstory · 6 years

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Endless Summer, Chapter 3/44 - Small talk is for small minds

That night, I was haunted by that dream again.

“Stay down! It’s coming this way!” warned Sean.

“Taylor! Give me your hand!” said Jake.

“You don’t understand yet… do you?” taunted Everett Rourke. “Of course not. But you will… in time.”

But this time, there was something else. At the end of the dream, I was being stalked by a predator. I turned around, but before I could see who, or what, was following me, I woke up, sweating.

Feeling hungry, and it being eight o’clock already, I made my way to the restaurant to have breakfast.

When I entered the restaurant, I saw that Grace, Aleister and Zahra were sat together at one table, Sean and Craig at another, and Michelle and Quinn at another. Jake and Raj sat at the bar, close to the other students. All of them were talking to each other.

Estela sat on her own, a fair distance away from everyone else, but still watching (and listening to) them. Lila and Diego hadn’t arrived yet.

They were all having breakfast, in the form of a buffet cooked by Raj, which included bacon, scrambled eggs, toast and a mixture he called the ‘Raj Hangover Special 9000’.

The conversations died out as soon as everyone noticed I was there. They turned to face me.

“Hey!” said Jake, smiling. “If it isn’t the boy scout who cried monster.”

“Yeah, Taylor, you shot down the party faster than the cops back home.” Raj complained.

“That’s what you care about?” Estela asked him, furiously. “Don’t you realise that if there were a predator, Taylor could’ve gotten hurt? Or killed?”

I was about to apologise to everyone for lowering the mood last night, when I realised something... Estela was right! My life was far more important than their party. And I was going to defend myself.

“Estela’s right. If you want an apology for last night, that’s not gonna happen.” I told everyone, Jake and Raj especially. “I’m not going to pretend everything’s okay. Regardless of whether I saw something last night or not, there is something going on in this island, and we need to find out exactly what that is.”

“I was only tryna lighten the mood...” said Raj, despondently. Everyone gave me annoyed looks, but Estela looked at me, impressed... with admiration.

I grabbed some breakfast, and sat at the table with Grace, Aleister and Zahra. I would’ve sat with Diego, however, had he been here.

“I found something really interesting at the beach this morning.” Grace told us.

“Already, nerdette, you have 60 seconds ‘till I die of boredom. What did you find?” Zahra asked her.

“Well, I was walking on the beach this morning, and found some sea shells that I’ve never seen before.” she explained. “I even went back to my room to look them up in my marine biology textbook, but... nothing. I couldn’t find anything close to them-”

“Hold up.” Zahra interupted her. “You brought your textbooks on holiday?”

“Um, yes?”

“Congrats.” said Zahra, sarcastically. “You’re officially the dorkiest person I’ve ever met.”

Aleister exhaled deeply.

“What a sad world we live in.” he lemented. “Seeking to be informed is deemed ‘dorky’ by today’s youth. I, for one, find Grace bringing her textbooks commendable.”

“You do?” Grace smiled at him, which caused Aleister to blush.

“Well, I... I do. O-of course.” replied Aleister, flustered.

“I agree. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with bringing your textbooks on holiday.” I spoke to reduce the resulting awkwardness for Aleister.

It was then that Lila and Diego entered the restaurant, looking somewhat triumphant. Diego sat down next to me, and Lila stood at the front to address us.

“Good morning, everyone!” Lila greeted us. “I hope you’re enjoying breakfast in our 5-star restaurant! Diego and I were searching the reception area, and we think we’ve figured out what happened to the hotel guests!”

She paused for a few seconds, and looked at us expectandly, as if expecting us to answer, or clap... or maybe she was just creating tension.

“Spit it out then, dimples.” said Jake, impatiently.

“Well, on the evening the day before yesterday, someone triggered the emergency evacuation procedure!” she told us. “It’s a custom feature in Rourke International Hotels to protect our guests from natural disasters!”

I looked out the restaurant window and saw a volcano at the far end of the island.

“When you say natural disaster, do you mean a volcanic eruption?” I asked Lila, which sparked an outburst of energy from her.

“Yes! Precisely!” she beamed. “If Mount Atropo were to erupt, all our hotel guests would be burnt to ashes!”

“Why do you sound happy about that?” asked a stunned Zahra. I found it slightly funny that Lila’s over-cheeriness was having the same effect on Zahra as Zahra’s gloominess had on Lila.

“Look, I know nothing about geology, or science in general.” Jake confessed. “But I’m pretty sure there wasn’t an eruption two days ago.”

"We have a designated shelter on the island, for our hotel guests, in case something like that happens.” Lila explained.

“Then the hotel guests may still be there.” Estela uncharacteristically spoke up. “This shelter... where is it, Lila?”

“I don’t know.” Lila confessed. “But the signs on the trail say we’ll find it if we hike east for five kilometres!”

“I’m going to find it.” Jake decided. “There’s a good chance Carlos will be at the shelter, and while you lot may be having fun playing Home Alone 2: Island Boogaloo, I’m losing money every day I’m stuck here. Are you joining me, boy scout?”

I hesitated, weighing up my curiosity versus my experience last night with the predator. Realising my uncertainty, Jake spoke up.

“You don’t have to come, if you’re still shaken. Stay here and-”

“I’m coming.” I interrupted him, quickly, before he could say something that would change my mind.

“Really? Why?” Diego asked me.

“I want to find out what’s going on.” I replied. “I mean, aren’t you a little curious as to why the hotel guests went to the shelter, when the volcano clearly didn’t erupt?”

“Well, yes, I’m curious.” Diego admitted. “But I’ve also, you know, seen a horror movie.”

He tried to put on a sarcastic voice, but it didn’t work nearly as well on him as it did on Jake or Zahra.

“Hey, guys! Let’s go to this creepy shelter on an abandoned island! What could possibly go wrong?”

“But I’m going with you, Taylor. So if anything goes wrong, I can say that I told you so.”

“I’m going too.” Aleister announced. “I’d like to get the lay of the land around here.”

“Me too!” Quinn joined in. “There are waterfalls on the island, which sound perfect to me right about now.”

Twenty minutes later, after finishing breakfast, Lila, Jake, Diego, Aleister, Quinn and I were hiking to the shelter. We passed some odd flowers, ones that glowed, probably what Grace was referring to when she said that the island had rare flora.

Lila, who saw me observing the flowers, couldn’t help but fall into one of her tour guide speeches.

“Due to its geographical isolation, La Huerta has one of the most unique ecoystems in the world, with flora and fauna not found anywhere else in the whole world!”

Jake couldn’t help but smile. “Sure thing, Minnie Mouse. Recite Rourke International propaganda all you want. I ain’t buying any of it.”

“What do you mean by that?” asked Aleister.

“I mean that all the leaflets for La Huerta advertise it as a Disney Paradise.” Jake replied. “But if you drink in the right bars in Costa Rica, you’ll hear all sorts of rumours about what really goes on here. Employees going missing, illegal experiements, etc.”

“That is preposterous.” snapped Aleister.

“I’m not going to let some conspiracy theories stop me from enjoying the beauty of nature.” said Quinn, plucking a particularly radiant purple flower and holding it to her nose, inhaling deeply.

I, however, inexplicably found myself beliving Jake. I stepped away from the flowers.

“I’m not sure what to believe, but better safe than sorry.” I told the others. “Unique ecosystem or not, flowers should not glow like that.”

“I knew I could count on you, boy scout.” said Jake, before turning to face Quinn. “As for you, Pippi Longstocking... don’t blame me when you grow two noses.”

We walked on, and I found myself walking next to Aleister. Despite his antisocial and offputting personality, I decided to try and make small talk with him.

“Hey, Aleister, have you seen any good TV shows recently?” I asked him.

“Does it look like I’ve been accepted for a Master’s degree in law because I spend my days watching reality TV about overly-tanned simpletons?” he snapped back.

“I’m just trying to make small talk.” I told him.

“Small talk is for small minds, Taylor. And I don’t associate myself with either of them.” Aleister told me.

I turned away, thinking that was the end of the conversation, but Aleister went on.

“My father never believed I had what it takes to get a PhD.” Aleister continued. “Despite my flashes of academic brilliance, including, but not limited to, Level 6s in my SATs, 10 A*s at GCSE and 3 A*s at A Levels. So that’s why I only tolerate intelligence, Taylor - because after my Master’s, I’m going to get my PhD, and prove that bastard wrong.”

“You’re an intelligent young man, Aleister.” I complimented him. “If anyone can get a PhD, it’s you.”

Aleister just blinked. “I know.”

We reached the shelter about an hour later. Lila pushed open the doors, revealing it to be as abandoned as The Celestial.

The left wall had mostly crumbled away, revealing a large hole. I cautiously approached it... and involuntarily screamed when something jumped out of it!

That something was a blue fox, who, panicked, ran to the far corner of the shelter. Frost formed on the wall behind him.

“He-hello?” I asked the fox, stunned and not sure what to say or do.

“Can we agree that’s not a real animal?” asked Jake.

“What... is it?” asked a confused Aleister.

“Um, literally the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.” replied Quinn, beaming.

“But what is he scared of?” asked Diego.

I didn’t have much time to make sense of the situation, because when I looked back into the hole, some eyes had suddenly appeared - the same predator that I saw last night!

The predator, which turned out to be a tiger, leaped out and started to approach the fox!

“That!” replied Aleister. “It’s scared of that!”

“You think?” Lila asked him, sarcastically.

“Maverick, what do we do?” I asked Jake, figuring that he was the one here most able to deal with the situation.

But for the first time, I saw him scared.

“Don’t... move.” he managed.

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theendlesssummerstory · 6 years

Text

Endless Summer, Chapter 4/44 - Cut and run (Part 1)

Unsure about how to deal with the tiger, my friends and I started to back away slowly towards the entrance.

I hated to leave the fox to certain death, but sadly, unfortunately, it didn’t seem like we had any alternative that included us surviving too.

“Nice kitty... nice kitty...” Jake repeated, as if the tiger could be reasoned with.

“This cannot be happening!” said a panicked Aleister. “This makes no logical sense!”

“Yeah? You wanna tell it that?!” Diego rhetorically asked him.

The fox managed to run past the tiger and sprinted to me, climbing up my back, shivering with fear.

“Oh no... oh no...” said Quinn, who was next to me, also shivering with fear, maybe even more so than the fox.

The tiger turned to face us and glared at me, obviously recognising me from the pool party. He loomed closer towards Quinn and I, which caused adrenaline to kick in.

“Get behind me!” I ordered Quinn, stepping in between her and the tiger.

The tiger growled softly and slashed at me with his claw, gashing my side!

“Taylor!” Quinn gasped, catching me before I fell to the ground.

“I’m okay, it’s not deep.” I told her, although I could tell from the blood that I was definitely not ‘okay’.

Meanwhile, the tiger took the opportunity to move in front of the entrance, blocking our exit.

“There’s no way we can get past this thing!” Lila spoke up. “We have to find another way out!”

“There’s a blast door at the far end of the shelter, which leads into a hallway!” Diego observed.

“That’s our only way out.” I decided, quickly, figuring no-one else could come up with a better solution.

It was then that I noticed there was a fire extinguisher a few metres to the right of me.

I grabbed it and sprayed the tiger’s face with freezing cold gas, blinding him momentarily!

We used the brief distraction to make a run for the blast door. Lila was the last one to make it, barely beating the tiger.

We rushed to slam the blast door shut, leaving the tiger behind, but us in the dark.

“Thanks, Taylor.” Lila thanked me. “That tiger would’ve gotten me if it wasn’t for your quick thinking.”

“Yeah.” Jake agreed. “Way to not get us all shish-kebab’d on those teeth.”

I suddenly winced, and had to sit down against a wall. Now that the adrenaline had faded, the pain caused by my wound had returned.

The fox and Quinn, both sensing my pain, came up to me. The fox nuzzled against me, and Quinn tore off a piece of her shirt and used it to bandage me.

“Thank you, Taylor, for protecting me back there.” Quinn thanked me.

“Of course, Quinn-” I started, but Quinn placed a soft finger over my mouth to silence me.

“But please don’t risk your life for mine.” she asked me, looking slightly despondent. “I’m... I’m not worth it.”

“Does someone wanna tell me what the hell that thing was?” Diego asked us.

“Isn’t obvious? A smilodon fatalis.” Aleister replied.

“A what in the who now?” Jake asked him, earning an impatient sigh from Aleister.

“...a sabertooth tiger.”

“Oh yeah, totally obvious.” Jake snapped. “I must’ve forgotten my spear and loincloth back in my cave, because apparently it’s 10,000 B.C.”

“Sabertooth tigers have been extinct for a long time, so that one must’ve been... cloned?” Quinn suggested.

“Of course not.” replied Aleister, incredulously. “Rourke International is in dozens of industries, but cloning is not one of them.”

“I’m sorry, Aleister, but why are we not discussing the fact that this holiday just turned into real-life Jurassic park?” asked Diego.

“A sabertooth tiger would make this the Pleistocene, not Jurassic, era.” replied Aleister, failing to disguise his anger at Diego’s comment. “Congratulations, Diego, you’re only - at the very least - 142 million years off.”

“Seriously, Malfoy?” said Jake, referencing Aleister’s white hair and snobby attitude. “That’s what you think is important here?”

“Yeah, Aleister, focus on the real problem here.” I agreed with Jake. “Who cares when sabertooths were around? Especially at a time like this?”

“I’m simply suggesting we use our intellect to accomplish something, instead of running around aimlessly like scared animals, such as our new blue foxy friend.” said Aleister.

“And I’m suggesting we use it to survive now, and ask questions later.” I replied back.

“I’m with boy scout.” Jake backed me up. “I should have enough fuel to make it back to the mainland.”

“The mainland?” asked a confused Aleister. “What are you talking about?”

“You’re leaving the island?” I asked Jake.

“Yeah.” he replied. “Come with me, or wait here and risk death for a rescue that may never come. I’m not going to become that tiger’s dinner... or yours!”

At this, Jake pointed accusingly at the fox, who had climbed down from my back and was sitting on the floor.

He looked at Jake, wide-eyed and clearly frightened still. This didn’t deter Jake, however.

“That’s right, you can’t play cute with me, bud. God knows what you are, and quite frankly I don’t intend to be here when we find out.”

“Let’s not overreact, Jake. We’ll be perfectly safe as soon as we get back to The Celestial.” Lila tried to convince him to stay. “I’m sure everything will be fine as soon as-”

“As soon as everyone magically reappears?” Jake interrupted. “As soon as the staff round up all the prehistoric predators? I don’t know what circus you think you’re running here, dimples, but this island ain’t safe.”

“And flying with you is? You nearly crashed the plane on the way here.” Aleister pointed out.

Jake looked at him and hesitated, as if he were thinking back to a bad flying experience he once had... but then shook his head determinedly.

“I’ll take my chances.”

“What about your money? You haven’t found Carlos yet.” I reminded him.

Jake smiled. “Boy scout, I’ve done enough gambling to know when it’s time to cut and run.”

I hesitated for a few seconds... and then nodded. The risk was too great.

“You’re right.” I decided. “We need to get back home. This place is too crazy.”

“Taylor, please!” Lila pleaded with me, her eyes glistening. “Everything will be fine once we get back to The Celestial. I’m sure of it.”

“I’m glad to see boy scout has his head screwed on straight.” Jake patted me on the back, probably a bit harder than he meant.

“I’ve always wanted an adventure... but maybe the truth is I’m not meant for it.” mused Diego.

“I know.” added Quinn. “I had a vision of how this week would go, and this wasn’t it.”

“Very well.” Aleister sighed. “We may depart.”

Lila turned to Jake and scowled.

“Jake, I cannot let you leave. I have a responsibility to my superiors-“

“To who?” Jake interupted her. “To Everett freakin’ Rourke?

“Rourke isn’t here, Lila.” I pointed out. “He’s not the one who’s life is on the line - that’s us. His paradise is falling apart, and this isn’t your job anymore.”

Lila turned away, clearly uncomfortable at the though of disobeying Rourke.

After a few seconds, however, she met my gaze, her eyes still glistening.

“Okay.” she decided. “W-we can leave.”

“Alright, the plan is to get out of here, grab the others from the resort and head back to the airstrip.” Jake announced, sounding rather proud of himself.

“We’d better hope there’s another exit, because that sabertooth isn’t giving up.” I added.

As if he could hear me, the sabertooth started growling.

We strolled through the corridors, looking out for signs of an exit.

The fox was jogging excitingly, scampering along beside me.

Jake seemed disturbed by this. “Is that thing just gonna follow us around now?” he asked me.

I shrugged.

“He seems to like Taylor!” Quinn pointed out, as the fox jumped back onto my back.

Jake sighed. He was clearly skeptical about the fox (I admit to some extent I was too), but he knew we wouldn’t budge. The fox was now a companion.

Eventually we passed a carving in the wall. I ran my fingers through it’s many grooves.

“This looks like it’s some sort of three-headed dragon? Like a Hydra?” I guessed.

“Can I see?” Lila asked me, to which I nodded and stepped out of the way.

“It could just be a bored employee who carved the wall...” Lila pushed against the wall as she said this, softly, but with enough force to cause the wall to shudder suddenly!

“Woah!” said a startled Diego. “Check it out! That section of the wall got pushed in a bit!”

Aleister stepped forward, examing the carving and the surrounding wall.

“It’s the outline of a door! Which means there could be a passage behind this section of the wall that could lead us out of here.” Aleister concluded.

Jake pushed as hard as he could against the hidden door, but to no use.

“I can’t do it!” he growled. “There’s gotta be another way to open it.”

I scanned the area, hoping to find a way to unlock the hidden door and I found a wheel valve on a pipe.

“There’s a wheel valve here on this pipe!” I told the others. “It could be the key to opening the door, but it’s chained tight.”

“That chain’s made out of some pretty sturdy material.” Jake observed. “I still have the fire extinguisher, though, which could help.”

Aleister took the fire extinguisher and sprayed the chain.

“CO2 fire extingusihers release gas at drastic sub-zero temperatures.” he told us, his voice dripping with narcissism. “So when the chain gets brittle enough...”

Aleister then bashed the chain with the fire extinguisher, shattering the chain and freeing the valve.

Jake and I span the valve, and after a few moments, we all started to hear gears moving deep within the wall.

The hidden door unlocked and, upon its opening, revealed a small office with computer monitors on a large desk and folders stacked on poorly constructed shelfs.

A computer monitor in the middle of the desk which showed camera footage of four different rooms in The Celestial caught Lila’s eye.

“We could use this computer to communicate with the students back at The Celestial and tell them to meet us at the airstrip!” she suggested, cheerily.

“It’s our best shot.” I agreed.

I sat down at the desk and grabbed the computer mouse, only to be greeted by the following message when I tried to click on camera footage of the lobby (which showed Raj fast asleep in one of the massage chairs):

ENTER PASSWORD FOR MICROPHONE ACCESS. HINT: Ram, Scorpion, Bull, Lion, 4/12, 6 letters

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theendlesssummerstory · 6 years

Text

Endless Summer, Chapter 4/44 - Cut and run (Part 2)

I stared at the password hint, running through different possibilities in my mind. Most of the ideas I had, though, weren’t 6 letters long.

“They’re all... animals?” I guessed, typing in ‘Animal’.

INCORRECT PASSWORD.

“Seriously?!” snapped Jake, who was looking over my shoulder. “They’re all animals!”

“There’s got to be something else they all have in common...” I mused.

4/12... what could that mean in relation to animals?

“Let me try something.” said Diego.

He leant over my other shoulder and typed in ‘Zodiac’.

CORRECT PASSWORD. MICROPHONE ACCESS GRANTED.

“Aries, Scorpio, Taurus and Leo - they’re all Zodiac signs!” explained Diego. “And the 4/12 refers to them being 4 of the 12 Zodiac signs.”

“Thanks, Diego.” I thanked him, slightly embarrassed that the others thought of me (somewhat) as a leader and I had to rely on him for us to be able to communicate with the others.

I grabbed the microphone in order to get Raj’s attention... when suddenly I had an idea. I smiled mischievously and, instead of simply just saying hello, I made my voice sound like that of a ghost’s.

“Rrraaaaaajjj...” I said in a haunting voice, earning laughs from Diego and Jake, but a stern glare from Aleister. “This is the ghost of The Celessstialll!”

Raj snapped awake and fell out of his massage chair.

“Oh man, not this trip again.” he complained.

Zahra and Craig had entered the lobby and were approaching Raj, laughing uncontrollably.

“Yo, Taylor, is that you on the speakers?” asked Craig. “That was hilarious!”

"Yeah.” agreed Zahra, who was laughing so hard she had to wipe away tears of joy. “I love humour at the expense of others.”

“Wait, that was Taylor?” Raj asked Zahra and Craig. They nodded and he, too, started to laugh. “Ok, I’ll admit it, that was pretty good.”

I explained the situation to them, as well as our plan to leave La Huerta.

“Is this another prank, Taylor?” Zahra asked me. “Because it isn’t funny this time.”

“It’s not a prank.” Jake assured her. “We’re going straight to the airstrip.”

“Get the others and meet us there.” I told them.

“You’re leaving?! What the hell?!” remarked Craig. “This is our holiday, dude. Forget that!”

“Craig, please trust me-” I started.

“Trust you?” Craig interrupted me. “I don’t know you, and you don’t know me. Why are you trying to ruin everything?”

Craig stormed off angrily, disappearing from view, leaving me baffled - did he not care that we could’ve been killed by the sabertooth tiger? Did he not appreciate that I was trying to look out for the group? For our safety?

Clearly, it wasn’t safe here. Our priority had to be our safety.

Raj saw my expression and sighed. “Don’t worry, Taylor. I’ll talk to him. We’ll be there soon, all of us.”

I nodded, thankful that Raj, at least, was taking this seriously.

“Right, now we need to find a way out of here.” I told the group at the shelter. “Maybe the folders can show us a way out, if there’s one that has a map of the shelter.”

“Good idea, Taylor!” said Quinn, eagerly taking a massive folder labelled Island Maps off a shelf.

“There are hundreds of maps in here, Taylor.” Diego complained. “It’ll take ages for us to look through all of them.”

“Then divide them between you five. You’ll find something that’ll help us.” I assured him. “In the meantime I’ll look through this computer and see if there’s anything else I can find.”

They all nodded solemnly and got to work, looking through hundreds of maps of La Huerta and all it’s buildings.

Meanwhile, I looked through the computer, but couldn’t find anything except camera footage of all the different rooms in The Celestial.

There were cameras in places such as the restaurant and lobby, which I could understand - but the bathrooms? I understand that some people like being watched, but that was creepy.

After about fifteen minutes, I was about to stop and help the others look through the maps, but that’s when I heard it - “He won’t, mum. I promise.”

I looked through the camera footage quickly and found Estela alone in the ballroom, in front of a painting of a sailboat beneath a night sky, which had been cut open. She was holding a pocket knife in her right hand, and holding a note in her left hand (which for some reason had probably been hidden behind that painting) which she was reading.

The image was fuzzy, but I thought I saw a pained expression on her face, which was unusual, given that Estela didn’t seem like the kind of person who would be easily upset by anything.

“Boy scout! Hate to alarm you, but... we haven’t found anything in this folder.”

Jake’s announcement brought me back to reality. I stepped away from the computer and went over to the group.

“There has to be something here.” I said.

“Oh yes.” snapped Aleister. “I’m pretty sure that, if we try real hard, we can find something-”

Before I said something to Aleister that I’d come to regret, the fox had jumped up onto a shelf and grabbed a relatively small folder labelled Shelter - Confidential Files with his teeth and pulled!

It fell and hit the floor. When I picked it up, surely enough, there was a map of the shelter.

“Yes!” smiled Quinn. “The clever little fox found the way out!”

“Wait...” managed a baffled Jake. “Does this mean Vulpix here understands English?”

He knelt down and looked the fox in the eyes. “That stuff I said before, about not trusting you... I didn’t really mean it, okay? I take it back!”

The fox smiled and nuzzled against Jake. He nervously laughed and patted the fox.

Meanwhile, Quinn had picked up the map of the shelter, and held it up for us all to see, and thankfully, it showed a clear way out through a cave, which conveniently lead us to the airstrip.

“If that map’s accurate, then we should be at the airstrip in about 30 minutes!” Lila concluded.

“Let’s go then!” I lead the way out of the room and through the shelter.

We followed the corridors the way the mapped showed us.

Eventually, we arrived at the cave that was so dark, we had to link hands to make sure we didn’t lose each other.

We could hear splashing underfoot.

“Uh... are we standing in water?” I asked the others.

“Dammit!” Jake muttered. “Cave’s flooded. Dead end.”

“Maybe not!” said Quinn, pointing at a faint spot of light at the bottom of the water. “Look at that!”

“It looks like... daylight, coming up through the water.” Lila observed.

“That means there’s an underwater tunnel leading to the outside of the cave.” I concluded. “We swim through, and we’ll reach the area the map pointed out.”

“Swim?! You may leave me here, thank you very much.” Of course Aleister disagreed with my plan. “Let my father know I hated him.”

“Come here, Malfoy!” said Jake, grabbing Aleister. “I’ll drag you out myself!”

Before Aleister could protest, Jake had dived under, pulling Aleister with him. Lila, Quinn, Diego, the fox and I followed them.

About a minute later, we re-surfaced at the mouth of the ocean cave.

I swam over to the beach, grateful we were back outside.

The others were busy drying off. As I approached them, I counted them off to check if everyone was still with us, and my blood went cold as I realised something horrible...

“Guys... where’s Quinn?”

5 notes · View notes

theendlesssummerstory · 6 years

Text

Endless Summer, Chapter 5/44 - Where on earth are we?!

Eyes wide, I searched the ocean, hoping to spot any sign of Quinn.

“I can’t see her!” I panicked.

Diego stepped forward to join me searching, equally worried. “If she got trapped down there, someone needs to go get her, now!”

“I’m getting her!” I quickly decided - as the leader, I saw it as my responsibility to save her.

I sprinted back into the ocean, the waves crashing against my legs.

“Please hurry!” Lila begged me.

I dived back into the cave, and opened my eyes against the stinging salt of the seawater.

I swam deeper still, fighting the instinct to swim up for air.

Eventually, I found her, her motionless body framed against the sunlight piercing the water.

I clawed through the water towards her and pulled her slack body into my arms.

She looked at me and smiled weakly before losing consciousness.

Her eyes slowly closed, and bubbles escaped her lips.

“No!” I thought to myself.

I started to kick hard to the surface, but Quinn’s body didn’t move.

I was confused at first... but that’s when I saw long, dark green seaweed had coiled itself around Quinn’s ankles, snaring her.

I reached down to slip them off, but at my touch, they coiled even tighter.

I was temporarily paralysed with confusion, but snapped out of it when the seaweed started to retract and pull Quinn down!

Without wasting any further time, I swam down to the ocean bed, feeling around in the dark for a sharp rock.

When I finally found one, it cut my hand and a trickle of blood seeped out, but I gritted my teeth because that didn’t matter to me. Not at that moment.

I raced back to Quinn with the rock and cut through the seaweed, releasing her from the seaweed’s grasp!

I held Quinn tightly and kicked hard back to the surface.

“There they are!” Aleister announced.

I paddled back to the others with one arm. When I got to the beach, I lay Quinn down. Her eyes were still closed and she wasn’t breathing.

“She’s not breathing, Taylor!” Diego panicked.

“Does anyone here know CPR?” I asked the others.

“I do.” said Jake. “Learnt it in military training.”

I quickly moved out of the way to allow Jake to position himself at Quinn’s side.

He laced one hand around the other and pushed down on Quinn’s chest in a quick, practised rhythm.

After 30 compressions he tilted Quinn’s head back and let her mouth open. He listened for breathing and watched her chest.

Seeing no chest movement, he pinched Quinn’s nose and pressed his mouth to her’s, breathing air into her lungs.

“Don’t quit on us, Quinn...” I said, hiding the majority of my worry. Diego, sensing how worried I really was, gently patted me on the back.

Suddenly, Quinn choked up water and her eyes flied open!

“Good to have you back, Ariel.” Jake sighed a sigh of relief.

She looked at Jake... then at me.

“Thanks, you two.” she smiled. ��And Taylor, you... saved me again.”

“I know you said to not risk myself for you, Quinn.” I told her. “That you’re not worth it. But you’re worth a lot to me. And to all of us.”

The others nodded - even Aleister, reluctantly and to my surprise.

“What happened down there?” Diego asked Quinn.

“I... felt something grab me.” Quinn replied hesitantly.

“It was some seaweed.” I answered. “But some really peculiar seaweed, that actually grabbed Quinn and was pulling her down.”

Noticing Quinn was still on the floor, I helped her up.

“Quinn, do you need time to rest?” I asked her, earning a sharp shake of the head.

“No. We need to keep going to get off the island. The others are meeting us at the airstrip, remember? And we can’t let them be there alone for long with the sabertooth on the loose.”

I nodded, too embarrassed to admit that I’d forgotten about the others.

We followed a jungle route that would lead us to the airstrip.

“We should keep the noise down.” Jake recommended. “That sabertooth could be anywhere.”

I pushed through a dense mess of foliage when I saw the ferns next to me stir - and a pair of eyes suddenly appeared right in front of me!

Acting impulsively, I whipped my fist forward, colliding hard with...

“Owww!” Craig complained.

“S-sorry!” I quickly apologised. “Thought you were a sabertooth!”

The rest of the students who stayed at The Celestial came up behind him. Michelle was giggling.

“That was amazing!” she told me. “Again, again!”

“Bro! What the hell?! You just punched me!” Craig glared at me, but then his expression softened into something that resembled admiration. “I mean, damn, hell of a punch dude. So ow, but also wow! Mad props, but I’m also mad!”

“Uh... thanks?” I managed.

“At least you two didn’t scream and attract every predator in the rainforest.” Estela shrugged.

“The airstrip’s just ahead.” Zahra reminded us. “What are we waiting for? To become tiger food?”

Reuinted, we continued our way along the trail.

I found myself walking next to Estela, and I decided to start a conversation with her, as something about her intrigued me and I wanted to find out more about her.

“I’m glad everyone’s here.” I told her. “I was worried not everyone would want to leave.”

Estela looked at me cautiously. “I’m not leaving, Taylor.”

“Even with a sabertooth tiger?” I asked her.

“Yes.”

“...Why?”

“...Unfinished business.” she said after a moment of consideration, as if she was trying to look for the right words.

I thought back to what I heard her say in the shelter, on that computer in the hidden office - “He won’t, mum. I promise.”

She was clearly here on some sort of mission, and if she was here for her mother, it surely couldn’t be evil... right?

“Listen, Estela, whatever ‘mission’ you’re here for... if it’s something worthwhile, I want to be able to help you.”

She sized me up, as if trying to pinpoint how I was deceiving her, but then simply sighed again.

“You really mean that, don’t you?”

“Of course I do.” I assured her.

Estela shook her head sadly, but I could tell that she was starting to like me, to think that I was somewhat trustworthy.

“Man you’re stupid. Trust me, Taylor, you don’t want to get involved. When you get into my kind of life, there’s no way out. So for your own good, go back home and enjoy the reat of your University life. That’s what you’re meant for.”

“I appreciate your sentiment, but I think I’ll decide what I’m meant for.” I replied.

“If only that were true.” Estela lamented - she was clearly someone who was forced into a rough life. “Now keep your voice down. There’s a sabertooth hunting us, remember?”

“You don’t seem at all surprised by that.” I observed.

“...Nothing surprises me anymore.” Estela admitted.

We walked on in silence after that.

After a few minutes, Jake held aside a large fern so we could pass through onto the airstrip.

His face turned cold as he turned to face the hangar, which had black smoke billowing out of it’s windows.

“My plane!” Jake cried out. “Sean, give me a hand! We need to open the doors!”

Sean and Jake pulled the colossal doors. We all joined in and eventually, we managed to pull the doors open.

Smoke the colour of death rose from the hangar into the sky like a storm cloud.

Coughing, I waved the smoke away from my face and squinted through it to see Jake’s plane engulfed in flames.

“There goes our ride.” said Zahra, flatly.

Through the smoke, I saw a round piece of gleaming metal on the floor.

Shielding my eyes against the smoke, I made my way forward and picked up the small metal object and put it in my pocket, having felt it and realised it was the hangar’s padlock.

Suddenly, the world around me glowed a little brighter. As if in slow-motion, I turned to see a trail of flame racing towards the plane as the gasoline line caught fire...

“Taylor!”

Estela dived for me, tackling me out of the way, just as the flame reached the plane’s gas tank, causing a massive explosion!

Estela shielded me with her body until the explosion had cleared.

“Are you okay?” she asked me.

I just lay there in shock. “Estela, thank you for saving me, but you could’ve gotten yourself killed. Why did you risk that for me?”

“I - I honestly don’t know.” she replied, genuinely confused.

“Uh, shouldn’t we try and put that out?” Raj asked us, pointing to the hangar which was still burning from the explosion.

Hearing this, the fox stepped forward and, breathing a massive blast of ice, put out the fire!

We stood there, shocked. Michelle fainted and Craig was barely able to catch her.

From the deserted hotel to the sabertooth tiger to the exploding hangar and now the ice breathing fox, there was only one question on my mind...

“Guys... where in the world are we?!” I asked everyone rhetorically.

They all shook their heads, of course. None of us had any proper idea what was going on, but nevertheless we made our way back to the hotel, our one shot at leaving the island having now gone up in flames.

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theendlesssummerstory · 6 years

Text

Endless Summer, Chapter 6/44 - All we have is now (Part 1)

When we made it back to The Celestial, Estela, Sean and Jake heaved the heavy gates closed. It was clear to us that the island presented all sorts of danger, and we weren’t taking any chances.

Thirteen pairs of frightened eyes scanned the rainforest for any signs of the sabertooth tiger, hoping he didn’t notice us and follow us back to the resort.

“...I think we’re clear.” Estela finally decided.

We all sighed with relief.

“That’s... enough exercise... for the rest of my life.” said Raj, panting after we had all sprinted the last part of the journey to The Celestial.

“Estela!” exclaimed Lila. “Where are you going?”

I turned to see Estela slipping her small frame through the fence’s bars.

“I saved Taylor, and helped you get back to the resort in one piece. For that, you’re welcome. But now, I’ve got things to do.” she explained.

“Estela, it’s dangerous out there! Don’t go!” I protested.

Estela glared at me. “If you had any idea what you just said, you wouldn’t ask that of me.”

“Tell me, then.” I asked her.

She shook her head, annoyed. She didn’t understand why I wanted her to stay so badly - and to be honest, at that point, neither did I.

“If there’s nothing I can do to get you to stay... then please be careful out there, okay?” I asked her. “I’d hate it if something bad happened to you.”

Estela blushed slightly, but nodded nevertheless.

“I will do, Taylor. Stay here. It’s safe at the resort.”

With that, she vanished into the rainforest, leaving us all dumbfounded.

“That girl gives me the creeps... but at the same time, I really, really wanna be her friend.” Raj admitted. “Is that weird?”

Craig shrugged. “A little.”

Suddenly, a wave of emotion crashed over me. I doubled over, hands on my knees, trying to catch my breath.

Sean noticed this and came to steady me. “You alright Taylor?”

“Fine.” I told him. “I just need to focus.”

“Damn straight.” Sean agreed. “Only way we get through this is if we keep our heads clear.”

I closed my eyes and focused on all the weird events that had taken place so far - the sabertooth tiger stalking me, Jake’s plane exploding and the fox breathing ice at the fire.

I inhaled deeply, fighting against the surreal disbelief. When I exhaled, I turned to face the others.

“This is real.” I said outloud. “This is happening.”

Jake scoffed. “Suit yourself, boy scout. But forgive me if I take a different approach.”

He entered The Celestial. Curious, we all followed him.

When we entered the hotel lobby, Jake was already behind the bar, holding some spiced rum.

“Who could use a drink right now?” he asked everyone.

“That would be me.” said Diego.

“Seconded.” Zahra agreed.

“Jake, please...” said Grace, half-heartedly.

“This isn’t the time for that.” Sean told him.

“I’m pretty sure alcohol was made for times like this.” replied Jake.

“Alcohol may not be the best solution, but we need to calm our nerves.” I told Sean. “It that’s Jake’s way of calming his nerves, then that’s what he needs to do.”

“...fair enough.” Sean admitted, disappointed.

I looked back and forth between the two self-proclaimed alpha males, disappointed at their constant (and mostly pointless) bickering. I failed to notice that an awkward silence had fallen upon us, which was only broken when Raj spoke up.

“Sooooo are we gonna talk about what just happened?”

“You mean the part where Jake’s plane decided to celebrate the 4th of July with some fireworks?” Diego asked him. “Or when Fantastic Mr. Fox here went Elsa on the fire?”

“Caused by the explosion of the plane we were going to use to escape a sabertooth tiger?” I reminded everyone.

“What I can’t understand is what that thing is.” said Aleister, referencing the fox.

“Whatever he is, it doesn’t look like he’s going anywhere.” Grace spoke up. “Perhaps Taylor should name him!”

“Me?” I asked, confused. “Why me?”

“He seems to be the closest to you, boy scout.” said Jake. “It’s only right that you name him.”

“Alright... as a huge pokémon fan, I’ll call him Alolan Vulpix.” I said after some hesitation, earning smiles from Diego and Jake, who were pokémon fans themselves, but some confused looks from the others.

“Anyway...” said Lila, breaking the second awkward silence in two minutes. “Jake’s plane exploding may have been unfortunate, but I don’t think there’s any point getting upset over a little freak accident-”

Jake suddenly banged his glass down hard on the bar. “It wasn’t an accident.”

“And how do you know that?” Michelle challenged him.

Jake nodded subtly to me. Solemnly, I pulled out the hangar padlock that I had found and shown to Jake on our way back.

“Boy scout found that in the hangar - he risked his life to get it.” Jake told the others, as if I was some sort of hero. “Someone went in there. Someone broke into the hangar and tampered with my plane.”

He looked back at Lila, his angry eyes contrasting his calm manner. “Setting off any lightbulbs?”

“Ex-excuse me?” stuttered a scared Lila.

“Who else has access to that hangar other than me?” Jake asked her.

“How would I know that? I’m just a tour guide.”

“Guys!” said Quinn in a raised voice, trying to diffuse the situation. “Let’s say, for argument’s sake, someone did sabotage Jake’s plane. But why? Why would someone do that?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” I replied. “To keep us here. There has to be someone else on the island.”

“What evidence is there of that?” Aleister challenged me.

“Remember what Lila told us this morning at breakfast? That two days ago, someone activated the evacuation procedure? That means, two days ago, people were here. It’s possible they’re still here.” Aleister nodded, conceding I had a point.

Craig suddenly stood up. “I’ve got something to say. I know a lot of you consider me the quiet one-”

“Literally no-one has ever thought that.” Zahra interrupted him.

“-but I’ve got something to say.” Craig finished. “You’re calling this an accident or sabotage... I call it a damn miracle! You were about to bail on a legit paradise - but we’ve just got a second chance to make the most of our luck!”

“Craig, this isn’t lucky.” Sean disagreed. “This is insanely unlucky.”

“Because you’re choosing to see it like that.” Craig pointed out. “We’ve been playing together a long time, dude. I have your back on and off the field, and I know you’re the team captain and all, but I need you to hear me out right now.”

“I hear you, man. But this is crazy. We can’t risk this. We have our whole lives ahead of us, and we have our goal.” Sean reminded him. “We’re gonna go pro together, like we always talked out - remember?”

“...of course I do.” said Craig, hesitantly.

“One day, we’re gonna buy this island and we’ll party the whole summer.” Sean promised him.

Craig shook his head, clearly annoyed by something. “Nah, man, that’s dreams. You’re talking about the future, when all we have is now.”

“Craig’s right.” I agreed. “The present matters more. Because now is the only guarantee.”

“See?” Craig told Sean. “Taylor gets it.”

Sean looked at me incredulously. “Are you saying you just want to stay on the island forever? Not get back home to your life?”

“I’m saying that in general, we should make the most of what we have now, and not risk everything on a future that may never happen.” I explained.

Jake raised his glass in my direction. “Cheers to that!”

I nodded back.

“That’s great and all... but what are we supposed to do now?” Michelle brought us back on topic.

“Jake’s plane can’t have been the only way out. It’s a big island, there has to be another way to leave, somehow.” Sean theorised.

“Sean, do you really think it’s wise to leave the resort?” Grace asked him. “Even Estela said we should stay put. Doesn’t it make sense to stay put for now and wait for someone to come rescue us?”

“I won’t lie - for now, we’re safer at The Celestial.” Sean admitted. “But we have no idea how long that’ll last. Or if anyone’s even coming to rescue us.”

“I agree with Sean on that regard.” I told everyone. “Until we get proof otherwise, we have to assume we’re on our own.”

“But we wouldn’t know where to start looking.” Jake pointed out. “Meanwhile, Tony the Tiger is out there looking for a snack. And who knows what else?”

“But Maverick, you’re the one who wanted to leave La Huerta first.” I pointed out, confused.

“Yeah, when we had a sure way out.” Jake replied. “You might’ve noticed when Estela had to save your ass, boy scout, but things changed a little back there.”

“Estela? No nickname?” I noticed.

Jake shrugged. “I don’t know enough about her yet to assign her a nickname.”

I breifly considered both arguments. Sean was right in that we couldn’t count on anyone coming to rescue us, but Jake was right in that without a solid plan with a sure way out, we could be in serious danger out in the rainforest - especially if we were alone.

“...it seems we’re divided between staying put at The Celestial and waiting for rescue, or leaving now and searching for a way out. I think we need to settle it with a vote, so everyone gets a say. It’s only fair.” I finally said.

“Democracy is a deeply flawed system subject to the whims of the mob... but in this circumstance, I guess it’s fair.” Aleister admitted.

“Taylor’s right. We should vote.” said Michelle, who shocked me by taking my side. “I’m definitely having my say in this.”

“Alright then - a vote it is.” said Sean, starting the vote. “I vote we leave now.”

“Me too.” said Michelle. “I just want to get out of here.”

“Well, I say we stay put and don’t get ourselves killed.” said Jake.

“Seconded.” Lila spoke up. “Help will come any moment now.”

“We’ve been here for over a day now, Lila, and we haven’t seen signs of anyone else. I don’t think we can count on rescue. I say we leave now.” said Quinn.

“Ditto.” said Zahra. “I never wanted to come on this stupid trip to begin with.”

“As much as I despise taking Jacob’s side, I also cast my vote for stay put.” said Aleister.

“Me too.” said Grace. “I don’t want to go wondering in the rainforest right now.”

“Same here. Plus, this place has a spa.” Raj pointed out, to a mixed, somewhat minimal reaction from the group.

“I’m staying put.” said Craig, not budged from a hopeful gaze from Sean.

“The vote is now four for leave now, six for stay put, with just Diego and I left to vote.” I summed up for everyone.

After a long moment, I cast my vote. “...I vote we stay put until we come up with an actual plan. It’s too risky to go out there, unaware of the dangers we could be facing.”

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theendlesssummerstory · 6 years

Text

Endless Summer, Chapter 6/44 - All we have is now (Part 2)

“...fair enough.” Sean admitted, again, disappointed, again. I could tell that he was someone used to compromising a lot.

Jake smiled. “That’s a majority. I knew you’d be smart about this, boy scout.”

“Stay put wins!” shouted Craig, clearly excited. “Suck it!”

“Diego, how would you have voted?” I asked him.

Diego wouldn’t meet my eyes. “...stay put. I really think it’s the best option. But it doesn’t matter now, Taylor.”

I nodded. “That makes it four for leave now and eight for stay put... and if Estela were here, it would be nine for stay put. Staying put clearly wins.”

“Are we done here?” asked Jake, already getting up and heading for the pool area. “There’s a hammock out there calling my name.”

Sean shook his head, annoyed with Jake’s nonchalant attitude. “We may be staying put, but that doesn’t mean we should do nothing. No-one home may even know what’s happened, and we’re not expected back for another 5 and a half days. We can investigate the resort and find a way home.”

“Sean is correct.” Aleister agreed with him. “We must search the resort for a way to contact the mainland and request help. Without cell service or internet connection, that’s our only option.”

“Go ahead.” Jake told them, shrugging. “More power to you. I ain’t stopping you.”

“We’re all in this together Jake.” Sean snapped.

“Sometimes, you sound like my old sergeant. And I hated that guy.” Jake replied.

Before we could ask about his sergeant, Jake had left, with Raj, Craig, Quinn and Michelle following him.

Sean had a despondent expression on his face. “You okay Sean?” I asked him.

“Yeah... I’m fine.” he assured me. “But we should get searching. The sooner we call for help, the quicker we get out of here.”

“Agreed. And I’m helping you look.” I told him.

He smiled. “Awesome.”

Lila smiled too. “Then let’s get going! We could search Rourke’s office - the owner of The Celestial. Strictly speaking, we’re not allowed in there, but...”

“...if anyone has some kinda high-tech satellite phone, it’ll be the cartoonishly rich dude.” Zahra finished her sentence.

Sean and Lila lead the way to the lift as Aleister, Grace, Zahra, Diego, Alolan Vulpix and I followed.

At the door to the lift, Diego hesitated. “You know... I could really use a break right now. I’m going to hang out with the others by the pool.”

“Diego, this is serious.” I told him, shocked he didn’t want to help find a way back home. “You’re gonna goof off with the others instead of helping us?”

“I know, Taylor, but... I could really use a break right now.” Diego repeated, before awkwardly shuffling off.

Sean noticed my despondent expression, and came to comfort me as I had just comforted him. “Forget about it, Taylor. We need to focus on the task at hand. We have work to do.”

I nodded. “You’re right. Thirty more minutes of work and we could be safe.”

We stepped into the lift and Lila pressed a button labelled ‘Rourke’s Office’.

Suddenly, we were whisked up the length of the main resort tower, slowly, but surely, ascending.

When we got to Rourke’s Office, it wasn’t what I thought it would be - instead of a grand, golden office, it was nothing but an empty glass table, a few bronze statues, marble columns and a marble floor so polished that we could see our own reflections.

“I’m finally here, I’m-“ Lila squealed before closing her eyes and regaining her composure. “Oh my gosh, Lila, contain yourself!”

“It’s so... barren.” I said, disappointed, using the only word I could think of. “It must feel so lonely in here.”

“I’m absolutely certain it was.” Aleister commented.

“Taylor’s right.” Grace spoke up. “No computer and no phone - this is a dead end.”

Sean, Alolan Vulpix and I walked up to the windows. Twenty-five stories below, we saw the other classmates with jet-skis at the beach.

“Seriously? Where’d they find those?” Sean rhetorically asked me.

Zahra had stepped up to join us. “Maybe they found a genie in a lamp and wished for them?”

Sean, ignoring Zahra, turned to me. “Hey, Taylor. Thanks for helping out. I know how easy it is to want to take a day off, to let someone else pick up the slack for once. But sometimes you have a responsibility to people to do your share... and sometimes even more. So I mean it, when I say - thanks a lot.”

I nodded. “You got it Sean. But I don’t think Jake is as bad as you think he is.”

We looked back at Jake, Sean’s mental conflict raging on his face. “...we’ll see.”

I looked at Jake’s happy expression. I could somehow tell that he hadn’t had an opportunity to be this happy, to bond with other people, for a long time.

Aleister, meanwhile, frustrated, kicked a bronze statue. “This is absurd. It’s like the man’s taunting us. How is there nothing here?!”

“Aleister, stay positive. We’ll find something, I’m sure of it.” I said.

“Oh yes, the amazing power of positivity!” Aleister snapped. “I’m sure that’ll save us from an island hellbent on killing us.”

“Taylor’s only trying to be helpful, Aleister.” Grace told him.

“I-” Aleister started.

“Apologise!” Grace interupted him.

Aleister turned to face me. “Taylor, I... I apologise for my tone.”

“Thanks.” I said.

“You’re welcome.” I knew he’d only apologised because Grace told him too, but I didn’t want to risk angering him by challenging him on this point.

Zahra, however, didn’t mind. She scoffed audibly. “That’s weak dude.”

“Now then...” Aleister ignored her. “If I was an incredibly successful, fortunate business simpleton ensconced in an ivory tower, where would I keep my-”

Aleister had rested his hands on the glass table, and it flashed with light!

“Woah.” I managed.

“The glass is a display!” Grace cheered. “The table itself is the computer!”

“How did you turn that on?” Lila asked Aleister.

“I don’t know.” Aleister admitted. “But it needs a 12-character password, all capitals, it says.”

“Hm...” I thought abou it for a few seconds, then stepped up and typed in ROURKEOFFICE.

INCORRECT PASSWORD.

“It was worth a shot.” I said.

“Well... I guess all we can do now is search the resort for clues to the password.” said Sean.

We made it back to the lobby and began searching for clues to Rourke’s password.

About ten minutes in, we heard the doors to the entrance open. Jake and his group entered.

“Excuse us.” smiled Jake, moving to walk past Sean, but Sean stepped in his way and shook his head.

“You got something you wanna say to me, Captain America?” Jake asked him.

“...I try to save my breath for people I respect.”

Everyone froze at this.

“I don’t know how I’ll sleep at night without your respect.”

“Listen Jake.” growled Sean. “I don’t know why you aren’t helping out - I thought you were ex-military. Maybe you have nothing to go back home to, but the rest of us actually have a life-”

Jake suddenly punched Sean in the jaw!

“Jake!” I protested.

“What?!” he snapped. “I’m not letting this guy lead just because of his ego.”

“Ego?” Sean stared at him incredously. “You’re the only one here thinking just about yourself. ...and I thought a tough guy like you would hit harder.”

“Stop this at once!” I shouted.

Everyone broke into arguing.

“Good luck getting off this island without lifting a finger!” shouted Aleister.

“I’d rather be stuck here forever than owe anything to people like you!” Michelle replied.

“You could’ve at least helped!” Grace pointed out.

“Did you find a way to leave the island?” Craig challenged her. “Because if not, you did as much as we did.”

“Back off Craig!” Zahra snapped, causing Craig to reluctantly back down.

“ENOUGH!” yelled Lila. Her usual cheery demeanour was gone, and she glared icily at all of us. “I hate to be the strict mother, but it is 10pm - everyone go to your rooms. We’ll discuss this in the morning.”

Scared at how angry Lila had become, both groups quickly rushed to the lifts to return to their rooms.

I silently motioned to Diego to take the stairs with me so I could find out what Jake’s group has been up to.

According to Diego, all they’d done was participte in typical pool games like Marco Polo until Raj had found the jet-skis, anf then they held a jet-skiing tournament which Jake won. Nothing important - at least nothing that would help us escape the island.

“So many of us wanted to stay put... was it the right call?” I wondered.

“Yeah... we fenced ourselves in, but that’s only seemed to have made our problems worse.” Diego commented.

“If we don’t find a way to work together... I don’t think any of us are ever making it out of here.” I admitted.

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theendlesssummerstory · 6 years

Text

Endless Summer, Chapter 7/44 - Words make war, but pies make peace (Part 1)

I woke up the next morning with Alolan Vulpix curled up next to me.

As I got dressed, all I could think about was the palpable tension last night as the two groups encountered each other in the lobby, and how grateful I was that Lila broke up the argument before it turned into a physical, all-out fight.

I heard a knock on my door. Just like the other day, it was Diego.

“Hey, stranger, you ready for breakfast?” he asked me.

“I’m always ready for food.” I joked, before getting serious. “But how do you think things will be at breakfast, between everyone? I mean, that argument yesterday was seriously heated.”

Diego shrugged. “People argue all the time in life. Who do you think could stay mad at a place like this?”

I nodded to be kind, but I was anxious of how breakfast was going to go - I knew, deep down, the argument wouldn’t stop overnight.

When we got to the restaurant, my fears were confirmed. A heavy silence was hanging over the restaurant, with the usual jokes, banter and laughs gone.

Instead of five small groups like yesterday morning, everyone sat in two big groups - Sean and Jake’s group from last night.

Jake, Craig and Michelle glared icily at Sean and Aleister, who in turn glared icily back.

As I saw Grace and Raj’s despondent looks, it became 100% clear to me that the argument hadn’t been resolved - if anything, it had become worse.

“Well... I was wrong.” Diego admitted.

As I made my way to the bar to get some food from Raj’s buffet, Jake cut in front of me.

Sean stepped in his way. “And where do you think you’re going?”

“I’m getting myself a bagel.” replied Jake, impatiently. “Got a problem with that, Sergeant Buzzkill?”

“Not everyone’s got their breakfast yet. You should wait until everyone’s been served.”

“Sean’s right, Maverick.” I agreed with Sean - we had ‘bonded’ somewhat yesterday, and he was in the right, I felt, in this situation. “You can’t just do whatever you want. Especially because you didn’t help yesterday.”

“How about that, Jake?” said Sean, triumphantly. “You won’t listen to me, but maybe you’ll listen to Taylor.”

“I should’ve known you’d defend him, boy scout.” Jake shook his head, disappointed. “You’re as much a goody two-shoes as he is.”

“Pulling your weight doesn’t mean you’re a goody two-shoes.” I replied.

“Yeah.” Sean agreed. “It’s called being a team player.”

Diego spoke up in an attempt to relieve some of the tension. “Uh, sidebar... since when is wearing two shoes an indication of goodness? I feel like pretty much everyone wears two shoes, right?”

Everyone stared at Diego, clearly disapproving of his poor attempt to break the ice.

“I’m... gonna sit down now.” Diego decided, quickly sitting down to avoid further unwanted attention.

“Whatever.” Jake snapped. “I’m not gonna sit here and be judged by some spoilt University kids. Enjoy your crappy bagels.”

He left, annoyed.

“Forget him.” Sean told us. “We don’t need him.”

“Except, you know... to fly a plane.” Raj pointed out.

Sean sighed before turning to address the group. “If anyone wants to help me look for a way to call for help, by all means, be my guest.”

Sean left with Grace, Aleister and (to my surprise) Michelle following him.

Realising I’d lost my appetite, I went to the pool area to get some fresh air.

I saw the nearby cliff where Estela and I had talked during the pool party, and I couldn’t help but wonder what she would do to break up our useless arguing - she struck me as the type of person who had seen, and possibly dealt with, a lot of conflicts in her life.

Maybe that’s why she was so reserved - if getting to know people lead to conflict, it was perhaps better to not get to know anyone at all... but if you never got to know anyone, what kind of life would that be? Would there be nearly as much enjoyment in a secluded life?

Or maybe she was reserved because getting to know people would get in the way of her mission... whatever it was.

The more I thought about Estela, the more worried I became at how little I knew about her, and more confused at how much I wanted to know - she was gone, possibly forever... why was her disappearance bothering me so much?

“Taylor!”

I didn’t have time to fully process my thoughts, because at that moment I realised that Raj had followed me from the restaurant.

“Can we talk?” he asked me.

“Of course.” I assured him. “What’s up?”

“I’m not gonna mince words, Taylor... I’m worried about our group. If we keep this feud up, we’re never getting off this island. I have an idea to get our group to come together... but I need you, Craig, Zahra and Quinn to help me.”

“I’m listening.” I said, interested in how Raj planned to relieve our tensions, a task which at that point seemed impossible.

“I think we need to throw a feast to get everyone to come together.” Raj proposed. “My grandmother, the best cook I know, has this saying - words make war, but pies make peace.”

I nodded thoughtfully, taking in Raj’s idea. “A feast could work - how will we do it?”

“Quinn and I are going to start cooking. Meanwhile, you, Craig and Zahra will get the booze I need to make some kickass drinks.”

“Sounds great.” I told Raj. “What alcohol do we need?”

Raj handed me a piece of paper on which he’d scribbled down the names of three brands of alcohol - Armand de Fleur, Creme de la Creme and McLellyn’s Whiskey.

“You’ll find Craig and Zahra by the ballroom. According to Zahra, that’s where the good booze is.”

“Yeah.” I agreed. “Zahra and I checked it out on the first day along with Quinn and Lila. The alcohol there is certainly nothing to laugh about.”

Raj smiled. “Good luck Taylor! The fate of the feast is in your hands!”

I made my way to the ballroom to find Craig and Zahra waiting there for me.

“Took you long enough.” said Zahra, acerbically.

I forced myself to remain civil. “Thanks for helping out with the feast, you two.”

“Wait, we’re actually helping out?” said Zahra, shocked and somewhat offended. “I thought all we had to do was go on some sort of bar crawl.”

“That’s how we’re helping Raj.” I said, unable to contain my annoyance this time. “Are you two seriously only here to get drunk?”

“Yeah, dog!” said Craig, stretching out his fist to fist bump me, which I reluctantly returned - after all, I needed his help, and Craig at least was helping, whereas some of the others were undoubtedly back to lounging around by the pool.

Craig then went to fist bump Zahra, who angrily slapped his hand.

“You need to learn how to read tone, Craig.” Zahra told him before turning on me. “And yes, Taylor, of course we’re trying to get drunk. It’s hot, and we’re stuck on this island where we’re probably going to get eaten by a sabertooth tiger. Can you blame us?”

“When you put it like that, no, I can’t blame you.” I conceded. “But enough talk - let’s get Raj’s alcohol.”

I opened the doors to the ballroom, but instead of the ballroom, I found myself on a rickety catwalk over a pool of magma.

Through the smoke in front of me, I could make out the shape of a man on the other side of the catwalk, wearing a lion mask.

“Hey! Taylor!”

Zahra shook me gently, bringing me back to reality, where I was actually in the ballroom.

“What... was that?” I asked them, in case they’d seen it too.

“What was what?” Zahra stared at me blankly. It was clear she had no clue what I was talking about.

“You just... totally spaced out for a few seconds.” Craig added. It was clear he had no clue what I was talking about either.

I realised that I had to find a way to not come across as crazy. “I must’ve been daydreaming.” I told them. “Let’s find Raj’s alcohol!”

“What does he want?” Zahra asked me, bored.

Undeterred, I took out the piece of paper Raj had given me. “The first alcohol he wants is Armand de Fleur.”

“Oooo, I’ve heard of that. Raj knows his alcohol, I’ll give him that.”

Craig pointed to the bar fridge. “I see some bottles of that right in there!”

I walked up to the bar fridge, took two bottles of Armand de Fleur and tucked them into my bag.

Zahra, meanwhile, cracked open another champagne bottle and took a sip.

“That’s good.”

She poured two glasses, for her and Craig, then turned to me.

“You want some?” she asked me.

“I’ll have half a glass please.” I told her.

Zahra snorted as she poured my half-glass of champagne. “Lightweight much?”

“I don’t like alcohol, personally.” I shrugged. “But I’m willing to have a drink with you two in return for helping Raj. And if not for fun, I’m happy to drink to good company.”

“...fair enough.”

We cheered and drank the champagne. It was undoubtedly the best I’d ever tasted.

“Wow. That’s awesome!” said Craig.

“I could drink this all day.” Zahra agreed.

“Stay focused you two.” I scolded them, taking out the piece of paper Raj had given me again. “Up next is... Creme de la Creme.”

“Yup! Two bottles of that right here!” said Zahra, taking two bottles of Creme de la Creme and handed them to me for me to tuck them into my bag.

“Thanks.” I told her.

I turned around to see Craig was pouring wine into glasses.

“You drinking Taylor?” he asked me.

I was worried that we wouldn’t be able to complete our task if we were drunk, but I knew it would be pointless to argue at that point.

Besides, a few drinks couldn’t possibly harm us. Even if the island was weird, the alcohol had to be normal... right?

“Alright.” I relented. “Count me in!”

Craig smiled. “That’s what I’m talkin’ about!”

We all picked up a glass and drank the wine, which was also undoubtedly the best I’d ever tasted.

“I have to say, Taylor... you’re alright.” Zahra admitted. “I have a feeling I’m gonna like you... and I don’t like anyone.”

“Thanks.” I told her.

I opened my mouth, about to ask her what exactly about me she liked, when I decided it was probably best to not push it.

I took out the piece of paper Raj had given me one more time, and saw that the last alcohol Raj wanted was McLellyn’s Whiskey.

I looked through the bar fridge, but couldn’t find any bottles of it.

“Damnit!” I said, slamming the fridge door closed in frustration, which Craig and Zahra tried not to laugh at. “We’ve only got two of the three alcohols Raj wanted.”

“And the restaurant only has beers and wine, no whiskey.” Craig told me. “Trust me, I know.”

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theendlesssummerstory · 6 years

Text

Endless Summer, Chapter 7/44 - Words make war, but pies make peace (Part 2)

I couldn’t help but smile. “I bet you do.”

“Well... we could check out the V.I.P lounge.” Zahra spoke up.

“There’s a V.I.P lounge?” I asked her, shocked - a V.I.P lounge hadn’t been advertised or mentioned anywhere.

“There wasn’t any V.I.P lounge on the brochures...” a confused Craig confirmed what I was thinking.

“That’s because you aren’t a V.I.P, Craig.” Zahra explained. “Unless it stands for vomiting... idiotic... poo-head.”

Zahra blushed as Craig laughed. “Sick burn, Zahra. You really got me there.”

“Just shut up and follow me.” Zahra snapped.

Zahra lead us to a big locked door on the ground floor.

“There’s a keypad.” I observed. “This was a good idea, but we can’t get in.”

“You sure about that?” Zahra challenged me.

“Uh... are you saying you know a way to unlock the door? Without knowing the password?” I asked her, uncertain.

Zahra just smiled and examined the keypad.

“A one-source keypad authentication?” she snorted. “It’s like they want me to break in.”

She pulled out a pocket knife.

“Are you sure this is the best idea?” I gasped as I realised what she was about to do.

Zahra merely shrugged. “I’ve hacked into a lot of stuff before - just ask the F.B.I.”

“Well... I guess this is our only way to get the McLellyn’s Whiskey.” I said, reluctantly, before smiling. “Alright, I’m in.”

Zahra smiled back. “Hell yeah.”

“Let’s - break - down - this - DOOR!” shouted Craig, repeatedly ramming the door in an attempt to break it down.

Zahra just sighed and pried open the keypad panel, examining the wiring.

“Hey, Taylor, dumbass. Do me a favour and keep quiet while I work my magic on these wires.”

She swayed slightly before steadying herself.

“Are you sure it’s a good idea to do this while drunk?” I asked her, seriously worried.

Zahra shrugged. “The worst that can happen is that I trip the wrong wire and electrocute myself with 10,000 volts of electricity, leaving you two idiots screaming at my corpse.”

I looked at Craig, alarmed. “She’s joking, right?”

“I can never tell with her.” he admitted, shaking his head sadly.

“...red to green... watch the beaker...” Zahra muttered to herself. “...and done!”

Zahra triumphantly clips two wires together and the door slides open.

“Slap my ass and call me Snape, because I just worked some magic!” she cheered.

She stopped as she saw Craig and I trying not to laugh. “Tell anyone I said that and I’ll kill you both.”

We entered the V.I.P Lounge, which featured dazzling lights, a beautiful water feature in the middle and a glass display case with high-end alcohol, including McLellyn’s Whiskey.

“Yes!” I smiled, opening the display case and grabbing the McLellyn’s Whiskey, tucking two bottles of it into my bag.

Craig, meanwhile, had cracked open the fridge and pulled out a cheese tray.

“Craig, I’d put that back if I were you.” I started to warn him. “We have no idea how old that is-”

I stopped when Craig ate the contents of the cheese tray with one massive bite.

“Craig’s a human garbage disposal, Taylor.” Zahra told me. “One time during out first year at Uni, he had a chocolate bar that had been dropped in a hot tub.”

“The water was hot! That meant it sterilised the chocolate!” he protested.

“...right.” Zahra agreed to shut him up - I got the feeling people did that all the time with Craig.

“So... you’ve known each other since first year?” I decided to change the subject.

They stared at each other uncertainly.

“We, uh... well, you know...” Zahra started, but stopped when she realised she didn’t know what to say.

“I mean, we... there was...” Craig, too, attempted to start, but also didn’t know what to say.

I thought about all their interactions with each other, how they teased and playfully insulted each other... and I realised it.

“Where you guys... a couple?” I asked, somewhat reluctantly.

Craig shook his head frantically, confirming my suspicions. “What? No! No no no! Definitely not! What a crazy, ridiculous thing to say!”

“Oh my god, Craig, don’t have a hernia.” Zahra snorted at Craig before turning to me. “Yes, Taylor, if you must know, we hooked up a couple of times. What’s the big deal?”

Craig looked at her, confused. “I thought you didn’t want to tell people about that...”

Zahra sighed. “Yeah, well, maybe sometimes I just don’t have the energy to lie about it.”

“I have to say, I can’t really see the two of you as couple.” I admitted.

“We were different people back then.” Zahra explained. “Two dorky first-years with no idea what to do, stuck in the hell that is University...”

Craig, meanwhile, poured two glasses of scotch on the rocks, handing one to Zahra.

“Let’s drink to the good times.” he proposed, clinking his glass against Zahra’s. “You had that blonde hair, remember? You’d wear it in a ponytail, over that nerdy pony sweater...”

“You were a total dork.” Zahra remembered. “With your glasses, bowlcut and obsession with World of Warcraft...”

Craig laughed. “Please! Like you didn’t make a character just so we could raid Scholomance together.”

“...I forgot about that.” Zahra admitted. “But now that I think about it, we wasted so many hours together... until the stupid American Football team started winning matches, and you and Sean were the kings of campus. And all you did was go to parties with your teammates and the cheerleaders.”

Craig frowned at her, sadly rather than aggressively - almost like he was feeling some regret. “You coulda come too, you know. But no, you just wanted to hang out with your creepy hacker friends from the CS department.”

Zahra sighed. “At least they listened to me... and got what I had to say.”

The next minute was one of awkard silence after Zahra’s confession, until she spoke up.

“You think... our World of Warcraft characters still exist, on the servers, remembering the good times?”

“They’re probably pretty lonely.” Craig admitted.

Another awkward silence fell upon us, and this time, it was I who broke it.

“It’s getting late. We need to give the alcohol to Raj.” I reminded them.

“Yeah.” Craig agreed. “Time to go.”

“Before it gets all sentimental again.” Zahra added.

As I stood up, I noticed a piece of paper on a nearby table.

“What’s that?” Craig asked me.

“It’s a piece of paper.” I told him, picking it up to read it. “IRIS v0.9.1. and Satellite Uplink can be found at the L.H.O.”

“Any clue what that means?” Zahra asked me.

After assuring Zahra I had no clue what was going on in the island, let alone what the note meant, we left the ballroom, and I headed for the kitchen, where I found Raj and Quinn busy cooking for the feast.

Alolan Vulpix, who had joined me on the way to the kitchen, was scampering around, greedily eating all the scraps he could find on the floor.

“Slow down!” I told him. “You’ll get sick!”

I approached Raj, who was cooking some pork, and handed him my bag.

Upon opening it, he smiled. “Dude! You found them all!”

“I take my job as a ‘Booze Brigadier’ seriously.” I joked.

“I knew I could count on you!” Raj smiled, high fiving me.

I looked around the kitchen, taking in all the food. “Seems like you’ve got everything handled here.”

Raj shrugged. “It wasn’t just me, you know. Quinn’s been a big help.”

“Hi, Taylor!” she smiled at me, to which I smiled back.

“Hi, Quinn. Thanks for helping out.”

She nodded. “Thanks, but... I’ve just been following orders. This feast is all Raj.”

Raj, meanwhile, checked the pork.

“The pork’s ready.” he determined. “I’m gonna start laying out the table by the pool.”

Raj went to grab the pork, but then hesitated... and turned to me.

“Hey, Taylor, you’re keeping track of most of the crazy stuff that goes on around here, right?”

“I... guess.” I told him, trying to sound modest, even though it was clearly true.

“Maybe this isn’t a big deal... but I found this while cooking.” Raj said, grabbing a frying pan that had a centaur symbol on the back of it.

“I don’t know why, but... it stuck out to me. Almost like... it was calling out to me.” he confessed.

I looked at the pan, wondering how it fit into everything we’d seen so far - for all the island’s weirdness, we had definitely not seen centaurs - at least not yet.

“I say we leave it here.” I decided. “It seems like an ordinary pan, and if we have to, we can always come back for it.”

Raj nodded. “I hope you don’t think I’m crazy or anything.”

I shrugged. “Everything on this island is crazy.”

“Touché.” he smiled. “If you see any weird things, you’ll let me know too, right?”

I smiled, happy that Raj liked me enough to trust me with his discovery. “Sure thing.”

Raj grabbed the pork and left, while I turned to Quinn.

“Anything I can help you with?” I asked her.

“There’s just dessert left!” she replied, smiling as usual. “But you’re welcome to stay and help me!”

“You can count me in!” I assured her.

“I was hoping you’d say that!” she said, hugging me.

I hugged back, smiling, but not revealing my true intentions - helping the feast was a bonus, but I also wanted to get to know her better.

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theendlesssummerstory · 6 years

Text

Endless Summer, Chapter 7/44 - Words make war, but pies make peace (Part 3)

I joined Quinn at the kitchen counter she was at, where she had baked 48 perfectly fluffy cupcakes.

I quickly calculated that 48 cupcakes meant 4 for everyone, and decided to joke about me needing more than 4.

“While I appreciate your efforts, Quinn... I’m afraid there’s a big mistake.” I told her.

Quinn looked at me, sadly. “What... what’s wrong?”

I had planned to drag out the joke, but looking at her sad expression, I couldn’t. “There’s only 4 cupcakes for everyone. I need a lot more than that.”

Quinn laughed, relieved that there was nothing wrong with her baking. “I’ve always thought there were two certainties in life... you’re gonna die, and you can never have too many cupcakes.”

“That sounds about right.” I joked.

“Now, you get to help me with the most important part of baking cupcakes!” Quinn told me.

“The eating!” I joked - I felt comfortable joking around Quinn, unlike the others. She was fun and had this... infectious energy and positivity.

“Okay, the second most important part.” Quinn smiled, correcting herself. “The frosting!”

She pointed to the end of the counter, where there was vanilla, strawberry and chocolate frosting.

“Which do you think we should use?” she asked me.

“How about we do 16 of each?” I suggested. “That way, there’s something for everyone.”

“Oh, wonderful idea!” she beamed, handing me the vanilla frosting, while she started expertly working on cupcakes with the chocolate frosting.

“It seems like you bake a lot.” I pointed out.

“When I was younger, my mum and I would be at home together, and we’d bake a lot.” she explained. “We’d whip up pies and trays of cupcakes.”

After a brief pause, I noticed she didn’t mention her dad, probably on purpose, and after some reluctance brought it up.

“Your dad... did he bake with you and your mother?” I asked her.

“No.” said Quinn. “But he’d come home from work every day and say ‘Darn it, you two! Where’s my steak and potatoes? I can’t live on just cupcakes!’ But then when he thought we weren’t looking, he’d stuff himself with them! Hee hee!”

Quinn’s laugh was the same as Lila’s, but it was more genuine... less cold.

“Your childhood sounds great.” I told her, truthfully.

Quinn suddenly had a sad expression on her face. “...parts of it were.”

She shook off her melancholy. “I always wanted my own bakery, ‘For Goodness Cake’... but sadly, that’ll never happen.”

I was curious about her last comment, but decided to change the subject back to baking - that’s what seemed to cheer Quinn up after my joke, after all. “Do you and your mum still bake? Does your dad still steal the cupcakes?”

Quinn shook her head. “They got divorced years ago.”

I instantly regretted bringing up the subject. “Oh, Quinn, I’m sorry, I had no clue-“

“It’s fine.” Quinn assured me. “You couldn’t have known. And things did start to improve between them... until January at least.”

“What happened in January?” I couldn’t help myself.

Quinn thought a while before answering. “Let’s just say, I was afraid... but I don’t need to be afraid anymore.”

We finished the frosting in silence, working together to complete the strawberry frosting.

As we grabbed the cupcakes and went to leave the kitchen for the pool area, Quinn turned to me, smiling widely. “Thanks for helping, Taylor. This was fun.”

“No problem, Quinn.” I assured her, and decided to apologise. “Sorry if my questions... upset you back there.”

Quinn shook her head. “No, no, nothing to worry about!”

We left for the pool area, and I was anxious as to how Raj’s feast would go.

“Raj has to pull this off.” I remember thinking to myself. “...he has to.”

inn and I arrived at the pool area to see it all set up by Raj for the feast - from speakers, a festive playlist played, and from torches, ambient lights flickered.

On the table itself, Raj had placed sizzling roast pork, savory sauces, juicy fruits and sweet deserts.

On a side table, he had a tray with 13 alcoholic drinks - a beer, a glass of wine and some cocktails, some of them alcoholic.

I walked up to Raj. “Can we start eating now?”

Raj shook his head. “That comes after everyone’s here, Taylor! Grab everyone, get them here... and experience the awesomeness of a Raj Feast!!!”

15 minutes later, I had gotten everyone and they were seated at the table. On the left were the group who had investigated Rourke’s Office (including Zahra) and on the right were the group who had relaxed by the pool.

Raj had seated Sean and Jake at the top end of the table, so they were directly opposite each other, followed by Lila and Diego, Grace and Michelle, Aleister and Quinn, Zahra and Craig, then finally Raj and I sat at the bottom end of the table.

Some ‘pairs’ were getting on well...

“Oh wow... this pork is sublime.” Grace commented.

“I know, right?” Michelle agreed. “Raj definitely outdid himself.”

...whereas others were not.

“Pass the fries, would ya?” Sean demanded of Jake.

“You’re the jock, aren’t you?” Jake countered. “Grab ‘em yourself.”

My heart sunk - although the two groups were coming together, it didn’t seem like there was any hope of Sean and Jake ever reconciling.

After everyone had eaten, Raj grabbed the tray with the drinks and started handing them out - Jake got the beer and Michelle got the wine.

“Dare I ask what is happening?” Aleister asked him.

“I’ve prepared for everyone a ‘signature drink’ - a drink I think is right for them!” Raj explained. “Thanks to Taylor, Zahra and Craig, I had enough alcohol to quite literally make everyone the creme de la creme of drinks!”

“Can we drink first?” Craig asked him. “I wanna drink!”

“How can you drink right now?!” gasped a bewildered Zahra. “It’s taking all of my willpower to not be sick.”

“We’ll drink soon.” Raj assured Craig. “But in the meantime... I want to propose a toast.”

Raj stood up, drink in hand, and gestured for everyone else to do the same.

“Right now, we’re standing around this table, but all of us are holding a different drink. That’s not just because I like mixing things up - it’s also a pretty good metaphor.”

“When you look at us all from a distance, we’re all different. Some of us are confident leaders... some of us are rebels, testing the boundaries to find new solutions... some of us are jocks, hackers and nerds... and some of us are insanely cute foxes with ice powers!”

“But that’s just the surface. Underneath, these drinks are all delicious. And they all have the same purpose, same goal in mind - to bring us together.”

“We all have the same goal in mind - we want to get back to our families, our friends, our lives. But we’re never gonna accomplish that unless we resolve our superficial differences, and come together.”

“If we keep fighting, we’ll tear each other apart. If we come together, we’ll escape, and go back home with the greatest memory of our lives.”

“So! Can I get a toast to THAT!”

We all looked at each other, silently contemplating what Raj had just said.

Eventually, Sean reached out his glass to Jake.

“To coming together.” he toasted.

We all stared as Jake looked at the glass in Sean’s hand... and eventually, with a slight smile on his face, reached out his glass and clinked it with Sean’s.

“To getting back home.”

“And to Raj!” I said. “Who brought us all together.”

“Aw!” said Raj, trying (but failing) to not blush. “Thanks Taylor!”

Relieved, we all sat back down, the conflict apparently over.

We all started talking to each other, and to my great personal relief, Sean and Jake were talking in a calm manner.

“So, shooter, any luck calling for help yet?” Jake asked him.

“No.” said Sean, shaking his head sadly. “Every radio I’ve tried brings back static. It’s like we’re in some sort of communication bubble.”

“It’s clear this island is cut off from traditional communication channels.” Grace joined in. “We need something really sophisticated in order to break through whatever’s interfering with the signal.”

“Correct.” Aleister agreed. “And I believe a satellite uplink would be strong enough to do that.”

Something about that seemed familiar to me... satellite uplink...

“Wait!” Zahra realised. “Taylor, didn’t that note in the V.I.P lounge mention a satellite uplink? In the L.H.O?”

Zahra was right.

“L.H.O...” Lila mused. “La Huerta Observatory! It makes sense... the La Huerta Observatory is a state-of-the-art facility with access to Rourke’s satellite relay...”

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